Serious problems in some teams - Senior Software Engineer Adobe Employee Review

2.0
Apr 16, 2021
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Generally pleasant atmosphere, nice people, reasonably powerful equipment takes some of the tedium out of development. Overall the company has a good vibe and I found it enjoyable 80% of the time. Plenty of latitude to do your own thing and own your space.

Cons

Plenty of latitude is mostly due to management apathy and inaction. Horrendous aging codebase shows signs of prolonged hacking and neglect. Senior researchers tend to throw their weight around and outright blockade development they don't agree with. Most other staff are frantically bugfixing for the researchers who avoid code reviews entirely. Your career can easily be stifled falling into the servitude of research staff with endless menial maintenance. This process leads to a revolving door of staff with heavy attrition. Try here. If you get lucky you can get something done but if you experience misconduct then prepare yourself to exit promptly. Expect no help.

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5.0
Jun 21, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great work life balance here

Cons

Leadership executive changes makes future vision unsure

4.0
Jun 16, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

* Refreshing focus on employee wellness * Brilliant colleagues * Compelling problems on interesting tools * Good work/life balance culture... generally (see cons) I've been at a few big tech companies and Adobe is one of my favorites. I feel empowered to make impactful changes here, I'm constantly stretching myself in fun ways, and the products we make are incredible. Product and engineering have big dreams, and all the resources we need to realize them.

Cons

* Big time crunch culture around arbitrary goals By far my biggest disappointment has been just how hard product pushes on big projects with arbitrary deadlines and difficult scope. It turns into cutting corners and delivering sub-par experiences even though we absolutely have the talent and capability to make some exceptional things if we just let the dang thing bake a few more months. I'd be more impressed with the tight clip if the goals were reasonable for good business reasons, but as far as I can tell the reason usually boils down to "some high-level manager wanted X and thought Y sounded like a good target date". * Comp growth leaves something to be desired. Raises feel pretty flat, though it's not the worst thing since stock rewards can be pretty good as appropriate for performance. Career progression is pretty good here too - I just find it odd how stale the base pay increases are year to year.

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